AI

Minisforum's AMD Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 workstation will cost more than $9,200, but you can get it for under $7,400 on preorder for a limited time

techexpresshub Staff2 October 2026 at 22:05 UTC2 min read
Minisforum's AMD Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 workstation will cost more than $9,200, but you can get it for under $7,400 on preorder for a limited time

Gorgon Halo systems are starting to reach the market, with Minisforum entering the segment through its MS-S1 MAX-P495 workstation.

The company is offering the 192GB memory and 2TB storage configuration for $7,399 during a limited promotion, against its regular $9,249 price.

Other recently announced Gorgon Halo devices include HP’s ZBook Ultra G3a at a calculated $7,449, while GMKtec’s EVO-X5 Pro mini PC sells for $6,399 under its Super Early Bird promotion.

Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 drives the workstation

The MS-S1 MAX-P495 uses AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 processor, combining 16 Zen 5 cores and 32 threads with maximum speeds reaching 5.2GHz.

The device pairs 192GB of LPDDR5x memory running at 8,533MT/s with a 2TB solid-state drive for local workloads.

Its graphics subsystem uses Radeon 8065S graphics based on RDNA 3.5, while an integrated NPU provides dedicated acceleration for artificial intelligence workloads.

Minisforum says the platform delivers up to 131 TOPS of combined AI performance, of which the NPU accounts for up to 55 TOPS.

The company also says two 192GB systems can operate together as a compact AI cluster, with Qwen3.5 397B reportedly reaching 16 tokens per second locally.

Connectivity includes USB4, dual 10GbE networking and Wi-Fi 7, giving the workstation several high-speed options for external devices and networked systems.

Expansion, storage and cooling

The MS-S1 MAX-P495 includes a PCIe x16 slot alongside two M.2 slots, allowing additional storage and expansion hardware within the compact chassis.

Storage configurations can support RAID 0 or RAID 1, giving users options for prioritizing throughput or maintaining mirrored data across compatible drives.

The front panel provides USB connectivity, two USB4 ports with DisplayPort support and power delivery, plus a combined 3.5mm audio connection.

Minisforum also includes a built-in microphone system designed for noise reduction, while four operating modes adjust the machine for different usage conditions - Performance, Balance, Quiet and Rack modes allow users to alter system behaviour, with the latter intended for deployment where rack integration is required.

The cooling design combines copper components, dual fans and phase-change material, with the system capable of handling power consumption reaching 160W.

A 320W power supply accompanies the workstation, while the chassis can operate horizontally or vertically depending on available installation space.

The internal layout uses a removable board tray, while a cascade power-on connection allows multiple systems to coordinate their startup sequence.

Minisforum estimates that shipments will begin around mid-October 2026 in the US, while the $7,399 promotional price applies only during the unspecified preorder period.

More Stories

AI

32,768 cores and 74 petaflops: AMD’s monster new rack for AI agents could be too much for traditional data centers

AMD's Helion Agentic AI Rack combines high-core-count processors, accelerators, and programmable networking, potentially requiring data centers to…

Read More ▸
AI

AI Came for Math. Now It’s Chasing the Rest of Science

Last week, I attended a talk at MIT by Neil Thompson, who studies progress in computing and artificial intelligence. Over the course of just half an…

Read More ▸
AI

Hard drives were supposed to lose the storage war — but AI demand is now pushing their biggest suppliers years ahead

Toshiba is expanding HDD production as AI drives demand for higher-capacity storage across data centers and cloud infrastructure.

Read More ▸
AI

‘Artificial’ Roasts AI’s Creators—and Sends a Dark Warning About Its Dangers

From their dorky parties to their weird walks, the movie holds OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other stakeholders with contempt, while demonstrating their…

Read More ▸
AI

Google and Microsoft hit by fresh criticism of their AI data center plans

Big Tech firms are destroying the environment in a quest for further AI gains, critics claim.

Read More ▸
AI

‘The keyword is speed to power’: Dell, Apollo, and Jera launch a $140 billion plan to build up to 4GW of AI data centers across Japan and Asia

Dell, Apollo and Jera plan up to 4GW of AI data centres and gas power infrastructure across Japan within five years.

Read More ▸